oberlindave's Profile

I hate going all the way to Flushing when I'm craving a Northern Chinese breakfast. By NORTHERN, I mean non-Cantonese dimsum dishes. Like salty silken beancurd soup (shien dofu nao), sesame pancakes w/ crullers (sau bing you tiao), five-spice beef wrapped in scallion pancakes (niu rou jia bing), and daikon radish pastries (lou buh su bing). I usually go to Nan Bei He on 40th Street in Flushing to satisfy this craving. For years, I've been searching for a place in Manhattan where I could get this food that I grew up on. Anyone have any ideas?

Had dinner there Friday night (7/24). The food there really was top-notch. We ordered the collard green bacon dip, which was divine. We were given free warm corn bread which was also delicious (it came with a much-touted "sweet butter"--not plain store-type butter, which I thought was really good).

My companion, who was raised in NC, ordered the fried chicken with a side of collard greens and peas and rice ($13.99). He said it was the best fried chicken he had in a long time. He ordered the sweet tea too, which he thought was good but a little too sweet.

I ordered the oxtails with mac and cheese and peas and rice ($15.99). Deeeelicious! Note, their menu ranges from around $8 to a burger, to some seafood dishes. Our entrees were towards the pricier end.

The portions were very big...we ended up taking home half the fried chicken and some sides. (I'm guessing this may have been unintentional, but the half fried chicken came with two drumsticks...) We passed on dessert, but the menu had some pretty good choices, which we'll be back to sample at another date.

One note: we asked for a little side of the barbecue sauce, just to try it out. The server had told us it was home-made, but we aren't exactly sure that it is.

Another note: we spoke to the chef/owner after the meal, who came out to ask how things were. We specifically asked about the BYOB issue, and she told us that she has no plans to allow alcohol, as it is for her a moral issue. So don't plan on drinking there. Nevertheless, we plan on going back, as the food was just too good.